GUPTA DYNASTY

rulers of the Magadha state in northeastern India, later Bihar. They maintained an empire over northern and parts of central and western India from the early 4th to the late 6th century AD. The founder was Candra Gupta I (q.v.). The Gupta era produced the decimal system of notation and great Sanskrit epics and Hindu art and contributed to the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, and metallurgy. See Samudra Gupta.